


To Go Home

by FujurPreux



Category: Doctor Who (2005), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: AU, Body Horror, Crossover, Gen, Good Kid Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Non-Graphic Violence, POV Multiple, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 07:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FujurPreux/pseuds/FujurPreux
Summary: During a visit to Jinlin Tower, young Lan Sizhui is kidnapped by a recently escaped Ghost General. While they're on their own, they meet the Doctor, who gets intrigued by their situation.
Relationships: Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī & Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī & Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	To Go Home

Lan Sizhui finished feeding the bunnies earlier than expected that morning. He left the now-empty bucket back in the kitchen and headed back to the Jingshi to give his report. There hadn’t been that many changes, but Hanguang-Jun was always interested in all the details the child could perceive, and he helped him sort them out according to how relevant they were. Lan Sizhui felt he was getting better, given the increasing amount of nods he kept getting.

It wasn’t the norm for him to do this on his own, but Hanguang-Jun was having a bad day. Hanguang-Jun was… ill. Wounded. Lan Sizhui didn’t know exactly why nor how, and he knew better than to ask. What he did know was that in such days he had to be especially good and work harder than usual while Hanguang-Jun remained in bed. This brought relief to his guardian, easy to see in the sparkle of approval in his eyes.

As he walked, he was so focused on finding the right words for his report that he nearly walked into a private conversation between Hanguang-Jun and Zewu-Jun. He froze right on time before crossing the threshold, freezing when he heard their voices. Lan Sizhui managed to remain out of sight, pressed against the wall, next to the door. It took him a moment to allow himself to breathe, once he thought he’d be able to do it without making too much noise.

Eavesdropping was wrong, and not only because several rules forbade it. Lan Sizhui should just… leave. Walk away and come back later, but as he started to turn his head, he heard his name being called. He flinched and waited, but no one addressed him again, yet the conversation kept going. They weren’t talking to him. They were talking about him.

He really should go. Find himself something useful to do and return after the adults had finished their business. He really should.

Instead, he risked taking a peek.

The Twin Jades knelt down in front of each other, sharing a cup of tea, and Zewu-Jun was talking.

“ I know you only want the best for him,” he said. “I do too. He’s a good boy, easy to like. But I also want the best for you, and you need to rest. Let him go to Jinlin Tower. He will be safe with me—with us.”

Hanguang-Jun looked down at his untouched cup of tea with his head slightly tilted sideways. He was reluctant. But Zewu-Jun was insistent.

“ It would cause them no harm to start getting familiarized with the other sects. He has to learn who he can trust. I will guide him myself.”

Zewu-Jun’s voice sounded even and soothing, and Lan Sizhui began to think about the possibilities. About going to an unfamiliar place away from everything he knew. Away from Hanguang-Jun. He liked Zewu-Jun. He was good to him. He treated him well and he was more open in showing his emotions. But Hanguang-Jun was… warmer. Warmer and softer, no matter how he felt. No. Lan Sizhui didn’t want to leave Hanguang-Jun’s side.

“ Wangji?” Zewu-Jun asked.

“ Sizhui should make the decision himself,” Hanguang-Jun replied.

“ Ah. You’re right.”

“ Sizhui.”

Outside, the child jumped. Hanguang-Jun had only needed to change the inflection of his voice a little to let him know he was addressing him this time around. All Lan Sizhui could now was to go inside doing his best to walk properly and look ahead as he was supposed to instead of looking guilty or pouty. It wasn’t easy.

“ Come here,” Zewu-Jun said before Lan Sizhui could start apologizing, so he did, sitting close to them, making sure to remain in equal distance from both adults. They didn’t seem to be angry at him, which was a relief.

“ As I’m sure you’ve already heard,” Zewu-Jun began without losing his soft smile and ignoring Lan Sizhui’s guilty look. “I’m planning on going a few days to Lanling. I was hoping you’d like to come with me.”

Lan Sizhui turned to Hanguang-Jun.

“ You are free to do as you want,” his guardian replied.

Lan Sizhui kept looking at him, at his face which was paler than usual, enough to bring out dark circles under his eyes.

_ You need to rest, _ Zewu-Jun had said.

Lan Sizhui wanted to stay. Hanguang-Jun said he would do as he wanted.

But he needed to rest.

  
  


Early the next morning, Lan Sizhui and Zewu-Jun flew to Lanling riding on the latter’s sword. As they did, the image of Hanguang-Jun’s as they said goodbye to each other wouldn’t leave the boy’s mind, and he could only half-listen to Zewu-Jun’s advice on flying.

Hanguang-Jun got out of bed when he heard Lan Sizhui coming into the Jingshi for the last time in the next few days. Despite the hour, he hadn’t bothered with more than simply combing his hair and his eyes looked duller than other times. Yet, he made the blanket he kept around his shoulders look like the most elegant of garments. He knelt in front of the child and regarded him.

“ Be good,” he said after a moment.

“ Yes, Hanguang-Jun.”

Hanguang-Jun reached out to poke Lan Sizhui’s cheek with a finger, as he usually did but stopped halfway to open his hand and caress his face instead. That hand lingered there for a moment before going away.

“ Go now. Xichen is waiting for you.”

This was the closest Lan Sizhui was to regret his decision. But another look at Hanguang-Jun’s tired face renewed his determination. He bowed to the man and left the room as quickly as the run forbidding to run allowed.

Because of this, the entire trip felt a blur, including the introductions to Zewu-Jun’s sworn brothers. Lan Sizhui only remembered two things clearly afterward: Chifeng-Zun tossing him up in the air and Lianfang-Zun gifting him a handful of toys.

Later, during the evening and before curfew, Zewu-Jun expressed his wish to spend some time alone with Chifeng-Zun and Lianfang-Zun, and thus Lan Sizhui stayed in one of the courtyards playing with only one grumpy-faced guard to look over him. Yet, he only glanced at the child every once in a while, obviously just as uncomfortable by their forced company.

Lan Sizhui looked back at his new toys. No matter how much he tried to think of any game, all he could think of was how much he wished Hanguang-Jun to be there with him.

“ I wonder if he misses me…” the child mumbled to himself. “I hope he’s sleeping.”

He had just finished muttering that when a commotion started. Raised voices, metal rattling, all coming from a different courtyard nearby. Another guard came in running and whispered something on the guard tasked with taking care of Lan Sizhui. He went pale and followed the other one seemingly forgetting all about the child’s existence.

What to do now? Zewu-Jun had requested privacy, so the boy couldn’t go tell him about this. Staying where he was until someone came to pick him up was also an option. However, the raised voices became muffled screams and the metal rattled harder. Not a sword fight, though. By then, Lan Sizhui had seen enough training sessions to recognize them.

Before he knew it, he had stood up and was halfway through the hallway. What if it was something Zewu-Jun had to know immediately? Lan Sizhui didn’t see anyone else going to tell him, so he did his best to press himself against the wall, staying in the shadows, taking advantage of his size. Jinlin Tower was nothing like the Cloud Recesses, but that right now played in Lan Sizhui’s favor. For example, the pillars were wider, enough that he could stand behind him and monitor the going-ons on the other side while he remained hidden.

He found a courtyard smaller than the one he had been in. A trio of guards surrounded a fourth person, whispering at him while bowing repeatedly. It looked like they were… shivering. Trembling. All of them stood a few meters away from some kind of box covered with a big, black sheet. A sudden gust of wind lifted the cover long enough to let Lan Sizhui see metal bars around it. Could it be a creature they captured during a night hunt?

Lan Sizhui looked around. The adults kept arguing and none of them looked in his direction.

“ Now I’m supposed to keep track of his social calendar? How was I to know his sworn brothers were coming to visit?”

“ Xue Chengmei, please, attend to reason—”

“ Shut it! I just did what he wanted me to do and he has to be informed. Call him or I’ll go do it myself!”

Well, that didn’t sound like happy people. But they were busy and the boy was curious. Thus, since no eyes were aimed in his direction, he sneaked closer to the cage. He went under the cover and, on the other side, he found, yes, a cage. But in the middle of the cage, instead of an animal or a monster, there was a man in chains.

No. Not a man. A fierce corpse, Lan Sizhui realize as soon as he noticed his posture and his lack of breathing. Fierce corpses were supposed to be terrible creatures, fearsome and nasty. But Lan Sizhui wasn’t afraid. Not of this one, at least. So he stayed there, in silence, looking at him.

The fierce corpse also took notice of him after a moment. He didn’t roar and he didn’t do any kind of threatening move. He just got close to the bars, his chains rattling softly behind him, and he knelt down. Lan Sizhui’s heart began to race. No, it wasn’t fear. It felt more like — like yearning. There was something about this that he couldn’t grasp and it was making him feel anxious.

Lan Sizhui reached up to touch the fierce corpse’s face. In response, the fierce corpse leaned forward until the little hand made contact. His skin was cold and dry, but for the first time in the day since he had left Hanguang-Jun’s side, Lan Sizhui felt safe.

He also felt like crying, and he didn’t know why.

At that moment, someone else lifted the cover.

“ Fine! It’s not my head. Take the Ghost General down to the dungeon for tonight— What are you doing here?”

The stranger grabbed Lan Sizhui’s arm and yanked him away with force, making him scream out of surprise and pain.

The fierce corpse roared.

It roared and broke both his chains and the bars that kept him imprisoned. As he took a step out of the cage, the guards whimpered but surrounded him with swords in hand. Meanwhile, Lan Sizhui was tossed from the stranger’s hands to the arms of one of the guards further back.

“ Stop!” said the stranger raising his hand. “Wen Qionglin!” he insisted when the fierce corpse didn’t stop. “I am your master now and I tell you to stop and go back to the cage!”

But the Ghost General did not stop. Instead, he backhanded the man throwing him to the other side of the courtyard and kept walking to the guard who held the boy.

No one dared to even breath, never mind attack.

“ Is—is he you want?” that one guard stuttered. He was trembling at the same time he moved backward. “You can have him! You can have him! Please, don’t kill me!”

He left Lan Sizhui on the floor and ran away, after which he was ignored. Lan Sizhui, on the other hand, was not. The Ghost General bent down to pick the boy up, he held him carefully in his arms and jumped over the roofs before reinforcements arrived.

Lan Sizhui saw building after building being left behind alongside scared, surprised faces. He had no idea where they were going, but he knew he wasn’t in danger. Quite the opposite, really. Regardless, he couldn’t do much except to surround the Ghost General’s neck with his arms and lean against him. This brought an unexpected-yet-familiar comfort, so he kept on doing that for as long as possible.

* * *

It didn’t happen that often, but the TARDIS did have her hiccups from time to time. This once, at least, the place she had chosen to stop when a hiccup happened seemed to be a peaceful area. A nice forest without any trace of hostile activity. It was getting late but with nothing to distract him from getting his repairs done, it would take him about an hour to finish and then continue with his travels. The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and brought out his most recent acquisition: a toolbox made out of extra-light material he got as a thank-you for saving a farm from imminent doom. It would be his first time using it, and he was excited to find out if it was as good as he was led to believe.

It turned out that the extra-light part was no joke.

The wind blew and took it away.

“ Hey!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Get back here!”

But the toolbox had no intelligence —artificial or otherwise— to either respond or make its own decisions. Thus, the Doctor had to run after it as it floated all the way to a nearby pond.

“ Of course,” he grunted at no one in particular. “I let my guard down one second and this happens.”

The toolbox got caught under a fallen branch, barely close enough to be retrieved by hand.

“ Small blessings,” the Doctor muttered while he took off his jacket to hung it on a tree. Then, he rolled up his sleeve and lied down on his belly on the ground. “Ha!” he declared once he had picked up as he stood up. “Things are coming back on track!”

The Doctor turned his head around, looking for someone to share his victory with, only realizing halfway through that at this moment he was traveling alone. However, his disappointment faded into surprise when his eyes did meet a figure next to him. Then, his surprise became annoyance when he realized said figure had just begun to walk away with his jacket in hand.

“ You!” the Doctor called. “Get back here! That’s mine!”

But he was ignored.

“ Hey!” he tried again.

Nothing.

“ You do realize that stealing is wrong, right?”

Regardless of whether this man realized it or not, he didn’t even look back.

The Doctor grunted again and put his toolbox under his arm and ran to catch up to a thief that could no be mistaken as a human being. A living human being, to be more precise. His movements were stiff and his skin, gray. Both experience and his senses told the Doctor that this person’s heart wasn’t beating and his lungs weren’t working. Well, if he was going to end up in a world with zombies, he did prefer it to be with the zombies that didn’t immediately attempt to relieve him from his brain.

Perhaps, the Doctor thought, actual communication is possible. It wouldn’t hurt to try. Unless it did, but there was only one way to find out.

“ Hello? I’m the Doctor. What’s your name? Do you have a name? Can you talk? As I said, the jacket is mine, so if you don’t mind—”

He reached out to grab the jacket, but the zombie jumped to the side and hissed at him.

Ready to bolt, the Doctor took a step backward. But the zombie did only not chase him, but as soon as he stopped trying to grab the jacket, he resumed his walking.

The Doctor made a face.

“ Fine, fine. But I’m following you. You’d better have a good reason for doing this.”

They stopped at an open space where a small boy dressed in white slept curled next to a campfire that was now cinders and ash. The zombie knelt down next to him and, as carefully as his rigid fingers allowed, covered the child with the jacket. Next, he grabbed some wood to bring the campfire back to life. A concept that was very funny by itself—because  _ revive _ and  _ zombie _ —but there were more important things to focus on.

“ Ah,” the Doctor murmured. “You could have asked, you know. We could have brought an actual blanket or something more appropriate. Anyway… Mind if I stay here?” he added, sitting down across from then, on the other side of the fire. He left his toolbox on the side, placing some rocks on top of it so it wouldn’t fly away again. “I’m going to need that later.” Besides, he was very curious about how those two had come to be together like this.

Night fell and, despite his best intentions, the Doctor fell asleep. A few hours later, a yawn and a child’s voice mumbling, “Good morning,” woke him up.

“ Good morning to you too,” the Doctor mumbled back as he blinked himself awake and remembered where he was and what had happened.

Right. The child and the zombie. The latter knelt down next to the first, in the exact same position he had had when the Doctor last saw him. The child, on the other hand, was sitting down cross-legged, wrapped with the Doctor’s jacket in such a way that only his face could be seen. A vision so adorable the Doctor felt bad thinking about asking for it back.

“ Hello? Are you the Ghost General’s friend?” the boy continued.

“ That’s his name? I just met him yesterday and he’s not very talkative.”

“ That’s his title.”

“ I see. I’m the Doctor. That is my title. And who might you be?”

“ Lan Yuan. I don’t have a title yet, but my courtesy name is Sizhui.”

“ Nice to make your acquaintance, Lan Sizhui,” the Doctor replied. He had decided to pretend he hadn’t noticed the way the Ghost General had tilted his head and groaned softly as soon as the boy said his name.

“ And where’s your family?”

The boy looked both well-fed and healthy, and his clothes seemed made out of fancy materials, enough that the Doctor just knew there had to be an interesting story behind all of this.

“ In the Cloud Recesses,” the boy said the way one announced a well-known location. “But I was in the LanlingJin Tower with Zewu-Jun when I found the Ghost General in a cage. There was a mean man who yelled, so he broke the cage with his hands and brought me here.”

“ Away from the mean man?”

The boy nodded.

“ Some guards tried to follow us, but he was faster. I don’t know what’s going to happen. They were angry.”

The Doctor frowned. A mean man with a cage who yelled at children was never going to earn his sympathy. The one who did their best to protect them, on the other hand, did. Yet, it would probably be a good idea to reunite the boy with his family while stopping them from destroying the zombie. Some people had problems understanding that, sometimes, the monster only wanted to help.

“ Doctor?” Lan Sizhui continued after a moment. He had stood up and was now bowing to him. Back straight, feet planted correctly on the floor. This boy was by all means well educated. “I apologize for my forwardness but I need to ask for a favor.”

“ Oh, do you? That’s going to depend on what it is,” the Doctor replied, amused at the sudden switch in formality.

“ Yesterday, I was combing the Ghost General’s hair and I found something stuck in his head but I couldn’t take it off. I’m afraid it’s hurting him and that’s why he doesn’t speak. He used to speak before…”

Combing a zombie’s hair. Sure, why not. A pastime as wholesome as there can be.

“ Alright,” the Doctor said instead of explaining that the undead couldn’t feel pain. “Let’s see what that thing is and what we can do.”

He stood up and got closer. He was received with a growl.

Lan Sizhui sat down in front of the Ghost General and held his hands.

“ It’s fine! It’s fine, Ning-gege. The Doctor just wants to help you.”

The Ghost General’s eyes widened and from then on he kept his entire attention on the boy, following his instructions.

The Doctor didn’t want to press his luck, so he kept his examination brief. Zombie hair was far from the worst thing he had put his fingers in, and he wasn’t sure of how good or how bad it was. However, before he went ahead with that, he took advantage and put his jacket back on.

“ Yes, yes. I feel them. There are two pieces of metal stuck in here. You know, you may have a point here. They may be blocking neuronal paths.”

“ Can you remove them?”

“ I can try. I just hope it doesn’t create more trouble,” he replied, muttering the last part under his breath on his way back to the toolbox.

However, as the Doctor got to it, someone not too far away yelled, “There! I see them!”

“ Yes! I see them too!”

“ Sizhui!”

“ Zewu-Jun?” the boy exclaimed, turning his head without letting go of the Ghost General’s hands.

The Doctor had also turned his head and saw a large group of people coming to them, all of them armed and looking like they were about to face the hardest battle of their lives. Never a good sign. Some of them were dressed in a larger version of Lan Sizhui’s clothes and were led by a young, handsome man sporting a deep frown that softened but didn’t disappear when he saw the child waving an arm at him.

“ Zewu-Jun! I’m fine!”

“ Yes,” the Doctor added as friendly as he could. “As you can see, the boy is perfectly fine. No one’s been hurt.”

“ And who are you?” asked a large man who stood next to Zewu-Jun and unsheathed an even larger sword from his back. Everyone else followed his lead, unsheathing their own swords. “Why are you so cozy with the Ghost General?”

The Ghost General growled but remained in his place, maybe because Lan Sizhui went back to hold his hands.

“ I’m the Doctor,” the Doctor said, placing himself between the boy and his zombie and the newly arrived. Nevertheless, he had decided to take the higher ground and pretend he didn’t notice the hostile tone. “And I’m not cozy. It’s that he’s behaving and, well, he maybe not be the friendliest person I’ve ever known, but he’s not the worst either.”

The only thing his speech got was the big sword aimed at him. His subordinates answered by surrounding them and adopting battle poses. They stood firm, doing their best to look stoic. Their eyes betrayed them, though, opened wide and fixed on the Ghost General. This was when the Doctor began to worry for real; scared people were unpredictable.

“ Hand the boy over,” the large man said. He commanded it, to be honest. With the voice of someone who didn’t take defiance lightly. “Then, we can have a long talk. You have a lot to answer to.”

The Doctor made a face and rolled his eyes. Dealing with this kind of people was a pain and it made him grumpy.

“ The boy is free to come and go as he pleases,” the Doctor said. “Whatever questions you may have, you can ask them right now and save us all a lot of time.”

“ Sizhui, come here,” called Zewu-Jun, one of the two people without a weapon in hand —although one did hang from his waist.

“ We need to help him first!” the child replied. “He’s hurting.”

“ Lan Sizhui,” a third man said, the other one not holding a sword. Clad in yellow, he stood on the other side of Zewu-Jun. His voice was firm as well, but also soft, reasonable, and persuasive. “You are still too young to know what you’re talking about. Be a good boy and go to your uncle. We’ll handle the rest.”

Lan Sizhui looked at the three men and then back to the Ghost General, seemingly weighing what to be a good boy was.

“ Hanguang-Jun also said to be good and to be good means to help. He also said I could do as I wanted and I want to help the Ghost General.”

The Doctor grinned, very proud at this boy he had just met.

“ Yes! That’s it. I like that Hanguang-Jun of yours. Is he around?”

“ He’s home,” Lan Sizhui replied. “He’s sick.”

“ Enough!” the large man called. “All of you, do as you’re told!”

In response, the Ghost General’s face contorted into a scowl and he turned his head to look at the three men. Nothing else, but that simple movement made every single person around them flinch.

“ Oh, you found them. Great!” said a new person joining the group. Both his tone and the expression on his face were more mocking than the situation warranted. “I hope we get to behead someone before going home.”

Right then, the situation blew up on more than one front.

“ Xue Yang? What is Xue Yang doing here, Jin Guangyao?” demanded the big man with the big sword while the man in yellow who had spoken before scrambled to find a convincing answer.

At the same time, Lan Sizhui’s hands finally proved insufficient to keep the Ghost General calm. The zombie didn’t stand up. From his kneeling down position, he jumped in direction to the throat of that Xue Yang fellow with surprising speed. He only didn’t succeed thanks to the sword-wielding group between them. The others join them, closing the circle around the Ghost General, who hit and dodged and blocked, getting rid of his attackers with ease, no matter how many they were. The Doctor now understood why they were all so afraid of him.

As that happened and as the adult closest to him, the Doctor picked up Lan Sizhui in his arms to prevent him from getting trampled by the sudden mob.

“ That’s the mean man who yelled at me!” the boy exclaimed. “Why are they attacking Ning-gege? He’s not the mean one!” He looked around and began to cry. “Stop! He’s not the mean one! Ning-gege! Ning-gege!”

His cries were so loud that the Doctor’s ears would suffer from the aftermath for a while, and so pitiful that it broke his hearts. Both of them. Yet, only two more people reacted to them: one was Zewu-Jun, who was already on his way to the boy and the Doctor, and the other was the Ghost General. The latter got rid of his closest attackers in an instant and jumped back to the Doctor and the boy. Zewu-Jun tried to beat him, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Before he could realize what had happened, the Doctor found himself tossed across the zombie’s shoulder, who now held the child in his other arm. In that undignified position, they ran away from the scene. The remains of the small army that attacked them followed—or tried to. The Ghost General was just the swiftest zombie the Doctor had ever encountered.

As the yelling, which ranged from the child’s name to some choice insults, faded behind them, the Doctor realized setting this straight was going to be fun. For certain definitions of fun But first, he was going to need some more information. Hopefully, he would be able to get it once he got rid of those nails in the Ghost General’s head.

On the good side, Lan Sizhui had stopped crying and now clung to the Ghost General’s neck, and the Doctor finally allowed himself to wonder about their family resemblance. Furthermore, where did the Ning-gege name had come from, again?

* * *

The world came back into focus as soon as the nails were removed from his head. Wen Ning would've inhaled sharply had he been able to breathe. But he wasn't, and he knew that his relief didn't show on his face. Regardless, the first thing he did was to look at the child kneeling in front of him, who was anxiously waiting for any kind of response.

"A-Yuan!" he said. Oh, how he would've wanted to smile.

"I knew you could talk!" the child replied, after which the feared Ghost General got a hug.

Wen Ning placed a hand on the boy's back and patted his head with the other. A-Yuan. His little cousin who had by some miracle survived the massacre Xue Yang enjoyed so much to gloat about, and who now wore Lan robes that were reserved for the highest-ranking members, and who now addressed Zewu-Jun so familiarly. That could only mean that Hanguang-Jun, honoring his closeness with Wei Wuxian had taken him in. To care for him as one of his own. There would never be enough words to thank him for this. If there was anyone truly innocent in all of this, it was this child.

"Yes, I can talk," Wen Ning said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. And you? Do you feel better?"

"Yes. A lot better."

"Glad to hear," said the strange man standing behind him, the one who had removed the nails Xue Yang had placed in Wen Ning's skull in an attempt to control him. The same man whose short robe Wen Ning had so shamelessly stolen and which he had gotten back now. Small blessings

Wen Ning stood up and bowed to the man while A-Yuan, refusing to let go of him, moved to hug his leg in the exact same way he used to do in what seemed to be too long ago. For the first time, Wen Ning felt relieved about being unable to cry.

"Please, accept my apologies for dragging you into this," he said. "My name is Wen Ning."

"I'm the Doctor," the man replied once more. "So, about this mess we have in our hands, I would greatly appreciate some info on how to solve it."

"A-Yuan has to go back to where he's safe." Which right now was the Cloud Recesses. "That will sort it out."

"And what about you?" the Doctor asked. "Is there a place where you would be safe?"

Wen Ning didn't have to waste time thinking for an answer. There were no sanctuaries left for him. Not anymore. Besides, there was no one left. No one to take care of him, and no one to care for. Under the care of the second master of the Lan Clan, A-Yuan didn't have any particular need for him. He would be nothing but a nuisance.

"It's not important."

"I disagree," the Doctor replied. "But that's a discussion we can have later."

"You don't seem too surprised by me."

To be honest, Wen Ning had meant 'horrified and disturbed,' but those seem too impolite terms to suggest to such a polite man.

"Eh. I've seen worse," the Doctor replied, waving his hand.

Right. Perhaps Wen Ning should re-evaluate his previous assessment. Regardless, that didn't make this man any more of a threat, especially not for A-Yuan, so Wen Ning decided not to comment on it. Although he did wonder what could be worse than him and where the Doctor could have seen it.

"I would like to apologize too for taking your jacket," Wen Ning continued instead.

"It was for the kid and I got it back, so no problem. Next time, we'll get him a blanket, if you don't mind."

A next time… Wen Ning hoped there would never be one. Not under these circumstances, anyway.

"In any case," the Doctor said, "if we're going to get little Lan Sizhui back to where he's safe, we need to go back to the TARDIS first."

"What's a TARDIS?" A-Yuan asked.

The Doctor beamed at the boy.

"Glad you asked! It's my… let's call it transportation method for now." He began walking to a seemingly random direction. "Come on, you two. I'll show you."

Wen Ning looked at A-Yuan, who had let go of his leg to go follow the Doctor, leaving him with no choice but to follow them. Not that he had that many other options to begin with.

  
  


After one hour of the Doctor pretending not to be lost, they arrived at a small blue, wooden cabin that looked very unnatural in the middle of the forest.

"Ah! Here we are!" the Doctor announced. "Behold! The TARDIS!"

"Is this your litter?" A-Yuan asked, running around it twice. It didn't take him long. He also did his best not to sound as underwhelmed as he obviously felt, a big difference from the bluntness he used to display in the Burial Mounds. He was also more soft-spoken and careful with his movements. No one would ever dare he was not a Lan.

The Doctor pouted.

"It's not a litter."

"I'm sorry, but it kind of looks like one," Wen Ning said. However, despite his observation, he bit back the question of whether the Doctor was a demonic cultivator. There was no one else around. How else was he going to make this thing move if not summoning ghosts, spirits, or even other fierce corpses? Regardless, both he and A-Yuan would find out soon enough.

"Well, it very much not a litter. Just one second. There's something I need to fix before we all go in."

All of us? Wen Ning wondered. Perhaps they'd be able to squeeze together. Thank you, A-Yuan, for being small.

The Doctor, meanwhile, rubbed his hands again and knelt down. "It's about here, underneath. I only need to lift it a bit…" He grunted once, and then again but louder. "Oh, no. I lost my toolbox in that madness back there!"

"Allow me," Wen Ning said. He leaned forward and lifted the litter—the TARDIS—over the Doctor's head with one hand.

"Show off," the Doctor mumbled, to Wen Ning's amusement, and then he cleared his throat and continued more loudly. "That'll do. Thank you."

With that, he began to work underneath, waving around some kind of small metal wand he got out from a pocket. Wen Ning let him do whatever it was that he needed to do and directed his attention to A-Yuan.

The boy stood very close to the Doctor, looking up and paying close attention, eyes wide open as if he did understand what was going on. The exact same way he used to do with Wei Wuxian, right before he borrowed Chenqing—for some interpretations of borrowing—to chew on.

Wen Ning needed a private moment with him to find out what he remembered. So far, it didn't seem like much. A-Yuan had not mentioned Granny nor Wei Wuxian nor anyone else. On the other hand, it had come to him the way he used to call Wen Ning despite the latter's inability to tell him his name, along with the certainty that the Ghost General would never hurt him.

Just how this came to be? The Lans never pegged him as the kind of people who would manipulate a mind to their convenience. Especially not one so young. Although, under the circumstances, to protect him—

"Ready!" the Doctor said. He grabbed A-Yuan's hand to get him from under the box. "You can put it back down, thank you."

Slowly and carefully, Wen Ning did as instructed.

"What's next?" he asked.

"Getting inside, of course," the Doctor said. His grin became a frown for a second and then a grin again, now more intense. "The sooner the better! Go, go, go!"

He hurried to open the door of the TARDIS at the same time their pursuers began to yell behind them.

"There they are!"

"We found them!"

They weren't just closing in. They had also doubled their numbers. Some of them held paper charms on one hand, but all of them brandished their swords, and all of them looked determined. No doubt they looked for the glory of being the one to take down the Ghost General. Wen Ning was sure he could take them, at least long enough to give the Doctor and A-Yuan time to get away.

"Get them! Don't let them escape again!"

"Destroy the Ghost General!"

"No!" A-Yuan yelled. The child jumped to place himself in front of Wen Ning, between him and the cultivators. "I won't let you!"

"A-Yuan…" Wen Ning murmured, touched. "Go with the Doctor."

"Yes, come with the Doctor, Lan Sizhui!" said the man himself, leaning down to pick A-Yuan up and he grabbed Wen Ning's arm without showing any sign of disgust. "You too, Wen Ning. No need to stay behind on my watch."

Unable to protest, Wen Ning let the Doctor drag him while still wondering about the Doctor's plan. However, once inside the TARDIS, that question was joined by many others. Many, many others.

.

The Doctor closed the door behind them. The massive space in front of them that shouldn't be there—that shouldn't exist—was enough to distract A-Yuan from his previous distress. It also distracted Wen Ning himself, for that matter.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" the Doctor wore a paternalistic smile on his face as he put A-Yuan down so he could spread out his arms and spin around. "Yes, it is bigger on the inside. We can have a guided tour later. Right now, stay put. If you wander too far away it might take a while to find you again."

What were the words the Doctor used just a moment ago? Oh, right.

"Show off," Wen Ning said.

The Doctor pouted but one second later he was back to chuckling and smiling. Wen Ning would've smiled right back had he been able to. Then, a war cry and a body crashing against the TARDIS door from the outside remind them of the crisis at hand.

Wen Ning adopted a fighting stance. That door was made out of wood; it would not stand that kind of punishment for long.

"Relax," the Doctor said, clapping his shoulder before going back to the center of the room where he began to work pushing buttons and pulling levers. "Check this out."

A-Yuan ran to hide behind Wen Ning's leg when the noise began. It seemed to come from all around them, and it stopped as abruptly as it began.

"Ready!" the Doctor announced once more.

"What is ready?" Wen Ning asked.

"Go ahead and open the door," the Doctor replied, ushering Wen Ning with his hand. "You'll see."

Wen Ning stared at the door for a moment in which the only thing that happened was a distinctive lack of pounding and yelling. It was disconcerting. There was no way the three sworn brothers and their disciples would leave them—leave him—off the hook just like that.

"Stay here, A-Yuan," he said patting the boy's head before going to open the door, never letting his guard down.

To his surprise, there was no one on the other side. Even the landscape was different. Before, it was a forest. Now, they were in front of a lake.

Wen Ning turned his head back to the Doctor. Just who was this man? Was he even a man? Should he be near A-Yuan?

The Doctor grinned at him, exuding smugness.

"So, what do you think?"

Wen Ning closed the door politely behind him before facing the Doctor.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. Although maybe that's not what you're wondering. In answer to that, no, I am not a human. I'm a Time Lord."

"I've never heard of such a sect."

"Ah. We're not exactly a sect, at least not the way you know it. We're bigger than that. And no, we don't do magic. It's technology."

Wen Ning didn't bother answering. He just stared at the Doctor as he considered his potions, knowing that his face wouldn't betray him and it would be no different from any other time he looked at him. On the top of the list was getting a hold of A-Yuan and getting away right that moment.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on," he said. "Even what those—what do you call them—cultivators do is mere energy manipulation. If you give me a minute, I have charts to prove it."

But before Wen Ning found the words to answer to that, A-Yuan screamed in the back.

"Let go!" A-Yuan yelled.

"Stop kicking, brat!" another voice yelled back.

"Who's there?" the Doctor asked as he reached inside his clothes for the wand he had used earlier.

Wen Ning, on the other hand, didn't have to ask. He recognized the voice and growled in response. "Xue Yang."

Indeed, that dreadful man came into sight and, by all accounts, Wen Ning blood should have frozen. Xue Yang held A-Yuan against his chest with one hand and, with the other, the monster pressed a knife against the child's neck. Xue Yang laughed on the face of even the most basic of morality. With most other people, Wen Ning would have thought this a bluff, but not with him; without a doubt, he would go as low as to harm a child.

"How did you get in here?" the Doctor asked, taking a step forward. But only one, since the kidnapper took the chance to readjust the knife at the same moment.

Xue Yang shrugged one shoulder. "You don't want people inside? Lock your doors."

"Duly noted. Now let the child down."

"So the Ghost General can kill me? No thank you. Tell me first how you control him."

"We've been through this already. No one here is controlling anybody. And please, stop talking about him as if he weren't in the room. It's rude."

Xue Yang snorted. "Rude? Shows how much you know. The Ghost General is nothing but a tool."

"He's not!" A-Yuan exclaimed, wiggling his entire body and kicking again, his anger making him fearless in the face of the knife. "He's a person! He can talk! And think! And feel!"

"Stay still, I told you!" Xue Yang yelled back but regaining control of his small prisoner turned out to be more challenging than expected. "What do you even know? Is everyone an expert now?"

However, A-Yuan knew a lot. His words were the same ones Wen Qing used to say, although in a different context and with less fierceness. No time to dwell on that. Wen Ning should instead focus on calculating the moment to make his move and jump on Xue Yang now that he was distracted, both to free the child and stop that menace for good.

But the Doctor moved first. He waved his metal wand again and the same noise as before surrounded them. Although, this once, they all could feel the TARDIS moving. The ground shook hard and fast, making it nearly impossible to stay standing.

"The fuck—?" Xue Yang explained when the knife fell off his hand. His profanity became a scream when A-Yuan took the chance to bite into the hand that held him. A long string of even worse profanity followed, but the child got what he wanted.

Xue Yang let go of A-Yuan, who ran to safety, grabbing the Doctor's leg while Wen Ning jumped at his cousin's attacker. He grabbed him by the back of the head with one hand and by both wrists with the other.

"Here! Use this," the Doctor said, tossing a piece of rope at their direction.

Wen Ning couldn't pinpoint the moment the TARDIS stopped shaking, but by the time the chaos ended, Xue Yang was tied up in the most uncomfortable way Wen Ning was capable of. Furthermore, unwilling to let A-Yuan keep hearing that kind of filth, he ripped one of Xue Yang's sleeves and stuffed it well into his mouth.

"Is he always like that?" the Doctor asked.

"He's been behaving better than usual today, actually," Wen Ning replied.

"What do you suggest should we do with him?"

"Put him in a cell!" A-Yuan said. His arms were folded and his lips pursed in a pout. "He is a bad person."

"Yes, that sounds about right," the Doctor said. "How do we go about it, though?"

A grin would've been helpful here, Wen Ning thought before he explained.

  
  


Not much later, merely after the pressing of some buttons, Wen Ning opened the door to toss Xue Yang outside landing right on Nie Mingjue's feet. Then, before anyone involved could recover from the surprise, Wen Ning closed the door again feeling absolutely no remorse.

* * *

“ There. He’s gone now,” the Doctor said, patting Lan Sizhui’s head when he caught him glaring at the door. “Straight to a cell.”

“ I don’t want to see him ever again,” the boy declared. He was quite angry, but both his frown and closed fist loosened when the fierce corpse called Wen Ning, the Ghost General, knelt in front of him to put a hand on his shoulder.

“ You won’t,” he said. “I won’t let him get close to you again.”

The boy nodded. He believed him. He knew he could trust him.

“ I won’t let him get close to you either, Ning-gege.”

Ning-gege. It felt good to call him that. Like this was the real name that belonged to that face.

“ Thank you,” Wen Ning replied, now ruffling Lan Sizhui’s hair with a cold hand.

The hand might have been cold, but it warmed Lan Sizhui’s heart, who grinned and jumped forward to hug Wen Ning’s neck. The latter’s hands closed around his back and it fell like home. As home as when he sat on Hanguang-Jun’s lap helping him feed the bunnies. Yet, it also made him sad. Like if there was a hole in his heart that he didn’t know existed until Wen Ning showed it to him. Before he could help it, he was sighing and sniffling.

“ A-Yuan, what—what do you remember?”

Lan Sizhui separated to look at Wen Ning’s face. He fetched a handkerchief from his sleeve to clean his face. There was one rule against using his sleeve directly and another one against using his hand. He just didn’t remember which was which at the moment. He felt that was not important right now, though. Hanguang-Jun had said that there would be times like these, and the child finally understood him.

“ What do I remember?” he asked. “About what?”

“ About when we met.”

“ In the Jinlin Tower.”

Wen Ning took a long moment to answer.

“ Don’t worry. It’s fine.”

“ Hold on a second,” the Doctor interrupted. “Let me try something.” He knelt down as well on the other side of Lan Sizhui and placed the index and middle fingers of both hands on the child’s temples. “Relax. This won’t hurt.”

Lan Sizhui stared at the Doctor but didn’t move. The man’s words were true, too: he didn’t feel any discomfort. He didn’t feel anything at all besides the pressure of his fingers on his head.

“ Ah, I see…” the Doctor mumbled. He let go and stood up. “There is a block there,” he added, addressing Wen Ning now. “I can remove it, but what’s behind may be too much for him at his age. I strongly advise to leave it there for now and let the filtrations keep trickling down on their own.”

Wen Ning nodded as if any of that made any sense.

“ Yes, it’s better like this.”

Lan Sizhui was confused, but this wasn’t the first time he was on the receiving end of a conversation between adults he didn’t understand, and he had been taught to behave and be respectful. So he swallowed his sigh and kept his cheeks in check to avoid pouting.

“ Where to next, then?” the Doctor asked.

“ The Cloud Recesses,” Wen Ning said. “To take A-Yuan back to Hanguang-Jun. I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with him anyway.”

“ All right then.”

The Doctor went to the center of the room and stared at it for a while. His hands hovered over the levers in front of him, but he kept hesitating before he touched them.

“ If you have a map, I can show you where that is,” Wen Ning said.

“ Oh, if you think that’s necessary…” the Doctor answered waving his hand like granduncle Lan Qiren did when he dismissed a reunion. But he did produce a map from inside one of his pockets.

While Lan Sizhui had to cover his mouth to not giggle, Wen Ning, in silence, took the map and pointed at the right place.

One moment later, they left the TARDIS right on the hill where the bunnies lived and ate and played. There were none at the moment, though; they had surely gone into hiding, scared by the TARDIS appearance. A man did stand there, however, halfway to a fighting stance.

“ Hanguang-Jun!” Lan Sizhui called, walking to his side as fast as he could.

Hanguang-Jun relaxed when he saw him. Although still pale, his face had a better color than when Lan Sizhui left him, which filled him with relief.

“ Sizhui?” he asked, kneeling down to place a hand on the boy’s cheek and staring at him intently, raising his head only when he made sure the boy was in good health.

Lan Sizhui grabbed Hanguang-Jun’s hand when he realized who he was looking at now.

“ Ning-gege is not bad.”

Hanguang-Jun responded by squeezing Lan Sizhui’s hand warmly.

“ I know.”

Then, he stood up again and nodded at the other two adults, who approached and exchanged greetings and introductions. Or more like the Doctor was the one to do so, because Wen Ning and Hanguang-Jun only stared at each other in silence.

The Doctor sighed and tapped Lan Sizhui’s shoulder.

“ It seems they have some things to talk about,” he said. “ Why don’t you show me around, huh?”

Lan Sizhui looked up at Hanguang-Jun, who approved of the proposal with a small nod. Thus, the boy grabbed the hand the Doctor offered, ready to grant his request. However, as they turned around, they saw a group of bunnies closing in on the TARDIS.

“ I guess they’re not afraid anymore…” Lan Sizhui ventured.

“ No. Don’t go in. Don’t go in…”

They went in.

The Doctor grunted.

“ When am I going to learn to close the door? Come on. Let’s get them out of there before they eat all the cables.”

With that, they hurried back inside the TARDIS, gathering all the little ones that had come inside. There weren’t that many, but they have found several places to hide and they seemed to like their new burrows. Lan Sizhui remembered to close the door before they started working to keep new ones from coming in, which helped. Nevertheless, by the time they had placed them all outside, Wen Ning and Hanguang-Jun had finished their conversation.

“ What will you do now” Hanguang-Jun was asking.

“ I’m not sure yet,” Wen Ning replied.

“ You can always come with me,” the Doctor offered. “There’s always room for one more in the TARDIS, and we can go anywhere at any time!.”

“ You’re leaving?” Lan Sizhui asked, unable to stop himself. “You can’t!”

“ I can’t stay,” Wen Ning answered. “It’s too dangerous for everyone.”

“ But— you can’t—” Lan Sizhui repeated on the edge of tears. Part of him wanted to hug Wen Ning’s leg, but the rest of him felt betrayed. In the end, he sought refuge holding Hanguang-Jun’s robe and soon felt a gentle hand on top of his head.

“ He’s right, Sizhui,” Hanguang-Jun said in a soft voice. “He won’t be safe here.”

Hanguang-Jun’s judgment sealed it. Feeling the hole in his chest open again, Lan Sizhui hid further behind his leg and refused to look back up at any of the adults’ faces.

“ It doesn’t have to be forever,” the Doctor chimed in. “I mean, if he does agree to come with me, I’ll bring him back to visit from time to time.”

Too late for promises. Tears were coming down Lan Sizhui’s cheeks and he had no way of making them stop.

Wen Ning got closer and knelt down next to Lan Sizhui.

“ I’ll be back,” he said. “When you’re older. Be good in the meanwhile, all right?”

Lan Sizhui pressed his face against Hanguang-Jun’s leg and refused to move.

Wen Ning remained there for a while before moving away.

“ If you don’t mind, Doctor, I would like to take your offer,” Wen Ning said then.

“ Oh, I don’t mind at all,” the Doctor replied. “Let’s go, then.” He turned around and nodded to Hanguang-Jun. “It was nice meeting you. Both of you.”

After an instant, Lan Sizhui took a peek to see Wen Ning and the Doctor walking away. Feeling regret and sorrow, he ran after them.

“ Wait!” he yelled. When he caught up to them, he hugged Wen Ning, who leaned down to pick him up and hugged him back. “I’m sorry, Ning-gege.”

“ There is nothing to forgive. I’ll miss you too.”

“ I’ll be good and I’ll work hard to be strong and protect you when you’re back. Like I promised.”

“ I know you will.”

They remained like that for a long moment before Wen Ning put the boy back in Hanguang-Jun’s arms.

After that, the only thing left was to see them leave. The Doctor and Wen Ning went into the TARDIS, which disappeared in less than a minute. Lan Sizhui felt another wave of sorrow hitting him and pressed himself against Hanguang-Jun, who pressed him closer against.

“ It’s all right,” Hanguang-Jun whispered. “You will see him again. But it’s all right if you need to cry.”

That was all Lan Sizhui needed to move to get a better hold on his guardian, and he began to sob against his neck. He cried hard and long while cradled in a loving and patient embrace that waited until he calmed down to offer him a handkerchief and start walking back to the buildings.

Lan Sizhui wiped his face and took a deep breath. Only then he realized that Hanguang-Jun had been carrying him all along and he remembered why he shouldn’t.

“ Hanguang-Jun! Zewu-Jun said you should rest!”

“ Don’t worry. We need to send a message to my brother to let him know you’re safe.”

Right. That sounded like a good idea. Otherwise, Zewu-Jun, his sworn brothers, and all those other people could spend days in the forest looking for them.

“ Please, tell them Ning-gege is good.”

“ Mn.”

Hanguang-Jun walked into his room and sat in front of his desk. After placing Lan Sizhui next to him, he dipped a brush in ink and began to write. The boy, meanwhile, leaned against him, breathing as he had been taught, and finally starting to feel calm.

“ It’s good to be home,” he said after a moment.

Hanguang-Jun left his brush aside and caressed the child’s cheek with his hand, the way he had done it before his trip. This time it lasted less but, in the end, it became the usual playful poke. The sparkle in Hanguang-Jun’s eyes had returned as well.

“ Home?”

Lan Sizhui looked at him and smiled, which prompted Hanguang-Jun to bring him to his lap.

“ Yes, home,” the boy repeated, closing his eyes and curling up against the adult.

“ Mn. I’m glad.”

Hanguang-Jun let the child be and picked up his brush again. Soon, Lan Sizhui was fast asleep, warm and secure in his guardian’s arms. 


End file.
